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The credit note issued yesterday was for £23.3million for bills wrongly issued between 2005, when the contracts began, and May this year.

The firm said another note would follow for £800,000 for bills wrongly issued from June this year. This indicates the company continued to overcharge even after the Ministry of Justice announced its investigation into billing practices in May.

Probe: Global security firm G4S is to be investigated by the Serious Fraud Office over tagging contacts dating back more than a decade

A National Audit Office report into the electronic monitoring contracts published today found evidence the firms were charging for multiple tags on individual criminals.

In one case Serco charged more than £15,000 for monitoring an offender whose home was not even fitted with the equipment.

A spokesman said Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has been clear that he is 'determined to secure a refund for the taxpayer'.

G4S: A HISTORY OF BLUNDERS

The UK-based security firm traces its roots back to a guarding company founded in Denmark in 1901.

G4S was formed when Group 4 merged with Securicor in 2004. The company has a long record of blunders including:

In 1993 Group 4 became the first private company to run prisoner escort services,m and lost seven inmates in three weeks

A year later a hunger striker escaped from Campsfield House detention centre, guarded by Group 4

In 1997 it emerged the firm had transferred a prisoner between two vans on a petrol station forecourt

Three prisoners escaped from Peterborough Crown Court in 2001

In
2011, G4S staff lost a set of cell keys just days after taking over
Birmingham Prison Workers put an electronic tag on criminal Christopher
Lowcock's artificial limb

In 2012 the firm failed to train enough guards for the London Games which meant 3,500 soldiers had to be recalled from leave

In March this year a G4S guard at Heathrow ordered Royal Navy engineer Nicky Howse to change out
of her uniform before flying to the US because it was 'offensive'

The spokesman added: 'We have taken appropriate legal advice and will pursue all possible avenues.

'This matter is now the subject of a criminal investigation. We are not able to comment further at the current time. We will make a further statement when it is appropriate to do so.'

G4S refused to co-operate with a forensic audit of its work - and that of fellow contractor Serco - which a public spending watchdog revealed had already cost the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) more than £2 million.

The firm said it now accepted it had ‘wrongly considered itself to be contractually entitled to bill for monitoring services when equipment had not been fitted or after it had been removed’.

It said: ‘This billing practice ... was not consistent with the contract or G4S’s values and the company has apologised to the Ministry of Justice and issued credit notes totalling £23.3 million for amounts incorrectly billed between 2005 and May 2013.

‘A further credit note of £0.8 million will be issued for billings for the period from June 2013 to date.’

There was no evidence that it extended to any of its other Government contracts, said the firm, which has faced repeated criticism of its performance, not least over security for the 2012 Olympics.

G4S group chief executive Ashley Almanza said the offer was ‘an important step in setting this matter straight and restoring the trust which has been earned by our many thousands of committed and hard-working employees over many years’.

G4S UK and Ireland chief executive Richard Morris will face questions from MPs over the scandal tomorrow when he appears before the Commons public accounts committee.

Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Mark Serwotka said: ‘Privatisation has been imposed on the public with the lie that it is more efficient and saves us money.

‘As well as raking in billions of pounds of our money, these companies are shielded from public scrutiny and are almost entirely unaccountable.

‘Who knows how many more times we have been ripped off?’

Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, said the admission by G4S was 'staggering'

'The company refused to co-operate with the Government, which led to the referral to the SFO, and that should have rung alarm bells. It represents serious corporate failure.

'Contracts of this kind need to be conducted in good faith and represent value for money. Every G4S contract with the Government needs to be reviewed immediately, and they should be banned from bidding for any more.

'After the Olympic shambles, the Home Affairs Select Committee recommended that the Government implement a high-risk register to stop this happening again.

'Had it been adopted, the overbilling from June may have been prevented.'

The firms will be billed for the £2million cost of the audit that uncovered the overcharging.